A SPECTRE of a graver security crisis hangs over the nation as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) yesterday threatened to avenge killings by Boko Haram .
This is coming as the 19-member Northern Speakers Forum rose from a one- day conference Sunday in Minna, the Niger State capital with a call on the Federal Government to include the Northern governors on its planned amnesty committee to be set up to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.
But a member of the House of Representatives, Mohammed Ali Wudil and the Lagos State Vice Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Alhaji Sakiru Sekiri have differed over the planned pardon for the members of Boko Haram.
While Wudil lauded the move , Sekiri faulted it, arguing that
the group had remained faceless.
And worried by the growing number of miscreants being recruited by Boko Haram to unleash terror on the North, the Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has said that the region is the architect of its own misfortune and the current insecurity that has defied a solution.
MEND spokesperson Jomo Gbomo said the group which had since its formation been concerned with the Niger Delta question, would begin from May 31, 2013, to embark on a crusade to save Christianity in Nigeria from annihilation.
“The bombings of mosques, hajj camps, Islamic institutions, large congregation in lslamic events and assassination of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate, will form the core mission of this crusade code-named ‘Operation Barbarossa’ “ Gbomo said.
He explained that MEND may only stop “Operation Barbarossa” if the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Catholic Church and Henry Okah, “one of the few leaders in the Niger Delta region it respects for his integrity”, intervened.
MEND said it had no problems with Boko Haram’s attacks on security agencies including the prisons, for their role in extra-judicial killings, torture, deceit and corruption.
It added that its campaign against the activities of Boko Haram would not in any way interfere with the ongoing “Hurricane Exodus” – which on April 13, 2013, at about 1a.m. swept through the Ewellesuo community, Nembe, Bayelsa State, leading to the destruction of an oil well belonging to Shell Petroleum .
In a statement in Minna Sunday at the end of the conference, the northern speakers commended the Federal Government for taking steps that would lead to possible peace in the North.
The speakers therefore called on various state governments, elders and traditional rulers in the North to ensure that amnesty was accepted to allow peace to return to the region in the interest of its overall development.
Wudil who is the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Works said the plan to grant amnesty to members of the group was reasonable, and should be immediately pursued to a logical conclusion.
The lawmaker who fielded questions from reporters at the weekend at the National Assembly, said he did not believe the group was as elusive as being portrayed in some quarters and urged the Federal Government to find its members wherever they were and grant them pardon.
But Seriki disagreed, stressing that the planned amnesty programme for the group was ill-conceived as it was bound to fail since the group had remained faceless.
He said many people who opposed the planned amnesty for the group had been vindicated by its rejection of the Federal Government’s gesture to them.
Rather, he called on the Federal Government to be more proactive by ensuring that it tackled the group’s menace frontally since its agenda was against national interest and aimed at creating religious and ethnic tensions in the country.
He also urged Nigerians to be more security conscious, and co-operate with security agents to check the insurgency.
According to Kwankwaso who spoke at the weekend, all governments at all levels have their own share of blame for the insurgency in the North. But he attributed the major share of the blame to Arewa parents and communities that have abandoned their responsibilities in bringing up their children or wards with the fear of Allah.
The governor spoke with The Guardian in an interview, while reflecting on the activities of the insurgents in Kano State and the North in general, saying that the country had to approach the security problem in the country from two perspectives.
According to him: “First, the perspective of ensuring that there is no violence, and in case there is anyone lingering it has to be controlled and managed. And on the other hand, government should do so many other things. Because, what we are facing today is just a symptom of what has been happening in the past.
“We all believe in this part of the country that parents, both fathers and mothers have abandoned their responsibilities. Communities have done the same. Ulamas, traditional rulers, politicians, businessmen and women have also abandoned their responsibilities.”
Meanwhile, despite the rejection of the amnesty proposal by Boko Haram leader Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, Arewa leaders have urged the Federal Government to continue with the programme, saying that it was the only way out of the insurgency in the North.
The Northern elders, under the auspices of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) met with the Patrons, made up of former Heads of State in Minna, Niger State and agreed to work towards putting an end to the security crisis facing the region.
In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani yesterday, he said the leadership of ACF “met in an emergency session with the patrons of the Forum”, to join hands with the government in ensuring that the security challenge facing the North was resolved.
He said that while Nigerians still believed that amnesty was the only means of tackling the insecurity in the North, “opinion leaders across the country have urged amnesty not to encourage groups to use violence as veritable means of addressing their concern and court government’s attention or patronage, but because amnesty as a strategy of war is one that is yet to be tried.”
Sani continued: “All options should be explored in our endeavour to put an end to further killings of innocent Nigerians for whatever reasons. In a way, it is possible to say amnesty and dialogue with people who take their own lives and those of others is a necessary evil.”
Citing the cases of other countries that were faced by insurgency like Iraq, Palestine, Afganistan and even Nigeria under the late President Umaru Yar’adua, Sani explained that amnesty and dialogue “have not delivered on the desired peace, since in all these places the terrorists remain un-subdued; and in such circumstances, an alternative approach or strategy is imperative, even if not popular.”
However, the ACF chief said that in the case of the insurgency in the North, “amnesty may persuade members of the insurgencies to come out and show their faces on the negotiation table without any fear of security agents”, pointing out that “without any form of mechanism in place by government that guarantees the security of the insurgents, nobody can reasonably expect them to show their faces.”
According to Sani, “an amnesty scheme should spell out clear terms and conditions for all those who decide to accept it as well as the benefit they stand to gain by doing so. The terms and conditions should specify the concessions government will make to the insurgents and other possible incentives it will provide; all within a time-line, also to be specified. It should address the losses suffered by the victims of insurgency.”
He further explained that “one way of exterminating terrorism in the long run is counter-terrorism strategy through which radicalisation, recruitment, inflow of arms and chemicals used for explosives can be checked”, adding that “monitoring of sources of financing, transportation and borders is imperative.”
Also, the Governor of Bauchi State, Malam Isa Yuguda has lamented the activities of some politicians and armed robbers who embarked on unpatriotic acts under the cover of Boko Haram insurgency.
Yuguda who spoke during the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service monitored yesterday in Kaduna, commended the Federal Government for setting up a committee on amnesty for Boko Haram members in order to put an end to the insurgency in the North.
But he expressed sadness that some politicians and armed robbers were now committing atrocities under the cover of Boko Haram.
His words : “Didn’t I tell you that there is political Boko Haram, it is the para-military arm of some politicians and Allah will punish all the politicians that are doing this, those using our children, giving then drugs to commit heinous acts, they are the political Boko Haram.
“There is also the armed robber Boko Haram, these are those who rob people with arms and now are hiding under the cover of Boko Haram. They (Boko Haram) are talking about religion, not to rob with arms or to be given N2000 to go and kill someone. Just to give one boy N2000 and ask him to go and kill Yuguda.”
On the rejection of the offer of amnesty by a leader of the group, Shekau, the governor said: “I’m yet to be convinced that it was actually Shekau who spoke in the video or someone else. I have never seen him and I don’t believe. You shouldn’t trust this, anytime there is a disaster, nobody knows where it will end. You don’t know how many people claim to be Shekau in Nigeria.
“You don’t know the number of people using the name of Shekau to commit atrocities in Nigeria. I have told you there is political Boko Haram and armed robber Boko Haram. Why can’t one amongst them come out openly and say he is Shekau?”
Commenting on the call by the British government that its nationals should not visit 22 states in Nigeria, Yuguda said: “They mentioned 22 states in Nigeria but do they mention Bauchi? I assure you that Bauchi as it is now in the 36 states of the federation, there is no where that people move freely and enjoy peaceful coexistence like Bauchi.”
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